OBJECTIVE: To ascertain and compare the oral health status and related sociodemographic risk indicators in children in Los Angeles (LA) County with children in the United States. METHODS: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004 were used to calculate prevalence estimates for children aged 2-13 years living in LA County and in the United States. Sociodemographic indicators were evaluated using multiple logistic regression modeling...

BACKGROUND: In many countries, those with lower socioeconomic status are disproportionately affected by poor oral health. This can be attributed, at least in part, to differences in preventive dental visiting. While several theories have been applied to the area, they generally fail to capture the recursive nature of dental visiting behaviour, and fall short of informing the design of complex interventions to tackle inequalities. OBJECTIVE: To undertake a systematic review and synthesis of theory in order to provide an overview of the pathways which bring about socioeconomic inequalities in early dental visiting, and identify possible intervention points...

OBJECTIVE: Paediatric dental care under general anaesthesia among preschool children in Western Australia is increasing and costly. This study assessed cost-effectiveness of the atraumatic restorative treatment-based (ART-based) approach against the standard care (SC) approach to managing early childhood caries in a primary care setting based on a 1-year pragmatic randomized controlled trial. METHODS: Cost-effectiveness analysis, from the service provider perspective, was conducted...

In this commentary, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the following incentive-based remuneration systems in dentistry: fee-for-service remuneration, per capita remuneration, a mixed payment system (a combination of fee-for-service remuneration and per capita remuneration) and pay-for-performance. The two latter schemes are fairly new in dentistry. Fee-for-service payments secure high quality, but lead to increased costs, probably due to supplier-induced demand. Per capita payments secure effectiveness, but may lead to under-treatment and patient selection...

OBJECTIVES: Private dental practitioners constitute approximately 40% of all registered dentists in Malaysia, and this group affords an avenue for prevention and early detection of oral cancer. However, such activities are still limited. This study investigated the feasibility of incorporating opportunistic screening of oral cancer in the private dental setting. METHODS: Dentists were recruited through two main dental associations in Malaysia and attended a 1-day training session on recognizing abnormalities within the oral cavity...

OBJECTIVES: There are few studies of dental service expenditure in Australia. Although dental insurance status is strongly associated with a higher probability of dental visiting, some studies indicate that there is little variation in expenditure by insurance status among those who attend for care. Our objective was to assess the overall impact of insurance on expenditures by modelling the association between insurance and expenditure accounting for variation in the probability of incurring expenses, that is dental visiting...

OBJECTIVES: Dental fear is a prevalent problem that impacts dental treatment-seeking behavior and thus oral, systemic, and psychological health. Among other important predictors, fear of pain has been shown to be a critical component of dental fear. While learning history (id est, past experience) is known to shape development and maintenance of dental fear and fear of pain, minimal work has addressed genetic etiological variables for these healthcare-related anxieties. With the aim of coming to a more complete conceptualization of dental fear, this study assessed the heritability of dental fear and fear of pain and elucidated the role of genetics in the relation between the constructs...

AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the association between lifecourse socioeconomic position (SEP) indicators and tooth loss in a large representative sample of the Korean adult population. METHODS: Data from the Fourth and Fifth Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey on 17,549 Korean adults aged 50 years or older were analyzed. The study design was cross-sectional. Tooth loss was defined as either edentulism (0 teeth) or severe tooth loss (<20 teeth)...

OBJECTIVES: The symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) can affect oral care and access to dental services, but there is limited literature describing the oral health and perceived oral healthcare needs of people with MS. This study aimed to explore the oral health experiences, oral health behaviours and barriers to accessing dental care perceived by people living with MS in Australia. METHODS: Six focus groups were held across two metropolitan areas (Brisbane, Queensland and Melbourne, Victoria) and one regional area (Toowoomba, Queensland)...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effect of mothers' education on Indigenous Australian children's dental caries experience while controlling for the mediating effect of children's sweet food intake. METHODS: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children is a study of two representative cohorts of Indigenous Australian children, aged from 6 months to 2 years (baby cohort) and from 3.5 to 5 years (child cohort) at baseline. The children's primary caregiver undertook a face-to-face interview in 2008 and repeated annually for the next 4 years...

OBJECTIVES: Emergency departments (EDs) have been identified as key providers of dental care although few studies have examined patterns of attendance or clusters of characteristics. The aim was to identify the reasons for visits to an ED, whether these remained stable over time, and characterize clusters of patients by socio-demographic and attendance variables. METHODS: Pseudonymized data were obtained for children who attended the ED in 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2012-2013...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this epidemiologic study was to determine the impact of smoking on marginal bone loss in a subsample derived from an original randomly selected adult sample, after adjusting for oral and general factors. METHODS: The number of participants at baseline in this 10-year longitudinal study was 616 (mean age: 42 years, range 21-63 years). The participants underwent a full-mouth radiographic survey. After recall in 2003, 473 (77%) of the participants accepted and completed an identical survey...

OBJECTIVES: Risk of development of dental fluorosis may increase with even a short-term increase in fluoride (F) intake during tooth formation. Considering the wide variations in F concentrations of different food and drinks, it is important to assess short-term differences in F intake and consequently fractional urinary F excretion (FUFE) in children, which provide an indication of F body burden. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate weekly variation in total daily F intake (TDFI) and its sources and fractional urinary F excretion (FUFE) in 4- to 6-year-olds living in a fluoridated area in the UK...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between caries experience in primary teeth and caries experience in permanent teeth in a longitudinal study. METHODS: Teeth were examined at 5 years of age and a follow-up examination was conducted 7 years later at 12 years of age in all children from Jiading District, Shanghai, China. A total of 1885 participants were recruited in the study; 1683 students were followed up and 202 students (10.7%) were lost to follow up...

OBJECTIVES: To test the extent to which parents' judgements about their children's oral health behaviour conform to the principles of a specific theory of cognitive decision making - Range-frequency Theory. METHODS: Experimental study with an opportunity sample of 121 parents of young children (3-6 years old) living in areas of relative deprivation in South Wales. Parents were allocated to four different experimental groups, and each completed a pen-and-paper exercise, which involved being presented with (and rating) how often other parents brushed their children's teeth...

OBJECTIVES: This systematic review identified and evaluated the evidence for the role of sexual behaviours in the development of oropharyngeal cancers (OPCs) and oral cavity cancers (OCCs). METHODS: Following the PRISMA guidelines, we identified observational and interventional studies reporting associations between several different sexual behaviours and OPC or OCC. Study quality was assessed independently by two reviewers using a validated scoring system. RESULTS: From 513 papers identified, 21, reporting on 20 studies, fulfilled the inclusion criteria...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of the Contra Caries Oral Health Education Program (CCOHEP) for improving low-income, Spanish-speaking parents' oral health knowledge and behaviors for their young children. Mexican American children in the United States suffer disproportionately high prevalence and severity of early childhood caries, yet few evaluated, theory-based behavioral interventions exist for this population. CCOHEP is a theory-based curriculum consisting of four 2-h interactive classes designed for and by Spanish speakers and led by designated community health educators (promotoras)...

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics of Dental Public Health (DPH) scientific publications within core DPH journals over time and to compare DPH journals with DPH content from other journal types. METHODS: The Scopus database was used to identify DPH-relevant articles published from 1965 to 2014 in three core DPH journals (DPHJs) and from 2005 to 2014 in Dental Journals (DJs), Public Health (PHJs) and General Journals (GJs). To identify DPH-relevant articles, a search strategy with words about oral health and public health was applied to each group of journals...